


High Score

by sunalso



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AOS AU August 2020, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, HS rivals, Pizza, galaga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25660915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunalso/pseuds/sunalso
Summary: AU. Fitz knows Jemma doesn't like him, they're rivals for valedictorian of their HS, though that's still half a year away. Right now, Fitz wants pizza and to have the top score in Galaga. When Jemma shows up and needs his help, it turns out they're not as big of rivals as he'd thought.
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 22
Kudos: 61
Collections: AOS AU August 2020





	High Score

**Author's Note:**

> Written for aosficnet's AU August challenge 2020.

The usual after school crowd of teenagers packed the pizza parlor, the smell of cheap perfume and cologne warring with the stink of greasy cheese and sauce.

Fitz tapped his foot along with the Michael Jackson song blaring over the speaker while keeping his eyes on the screen of the Galaga arcade game he was currently dominating. His initials had been in the top five spots since the start of summer and he intended to keep it that way during his senior year. If he was lucky, he might even graduate as valedictorian. His only rival for the spot was another Brit, the oh-so-proper Jemma Simmons, who’d also been dragged across the pond by her parents.

Everyone had thought they’d end up friends, but Jemma had simply hated him from the first time they’d met. Fitz had never figured out why. Surely him being a little tongue-tied didn’t mean she needed to treat him like he stank. He sometimes thought his worn-down trainers, jeans with holes in the knee, and shirts with shapeless collars might be part of the problem. Jemma always looked fresh and sparkling, like she’d stepped out of a toothpaste ad, and the guys she dated always dressed like business school candidates.

Not nerds with curly hair and cardigans.

Hunter laughed loudly from the table they were sharing, and Fitz’s eyes darted that way. Bobbi was sitting beside Hunter and he had his arm around her shoulder. Her hair was as teased as always, and Fitz wondered how much Aquanet she went through daily. His heart stuttered as he spied Jemma Simmons walking into the pizza joint.

What the bloody hell? She never came here. Her hair hung straight and loose around her shoulders, swinging as she peered around the crowd as if she searched for someone in the crowd. Her perfect lips were pressed together into a worried line, and a tiny line had formed between her brows. She cast a glance over her shoulder at the door, then walked quickly away from it, heading straight for him.

Fitz couldn’t move, completely stunned from the force of her gaze as her warm brown eyes raked over him.

“You’re dead,” she said, stopping far too close to him.

“Huh?”

She pointed at the screen. Somehow, he managed to glance at the screen, which read Game Over. Drat, there went that play. He looked back at Jemma, who cringed as the door to the pizza place opened again. This time it was football captain Grant Ward who walked in.

“Fitz,” Jemma whispered. “I know you don’t like me because I get good grades, though you have to admit us being rivals has probably helped us both do better academically.”

What? He hated her? Fitz blinked. How could someone so brilliant be so wrong? “You hate me,” he mumbled.

“I do not.” She frowned at him. “Anyway, we can figure it out later. Ever since I broke up with Milton—”

Fitz groaned. “That berk.”

“Yes, he is, but honestly being with him was better than the attention Ward keeps thinking I want from him. I do not. If I have a boyfriend he usually backs off.”

Fitz leaned against his hip against the arcade cabinet. “That’s a shite reason to have a boyfriend.”

“Tell me about it.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t even kiss most of the guys I’ve gone out with the last couple years, and I certainly don’t want to kiss Ward, or do any of the other things he’s suggested to me.”

Jemma’s cheeks paled and Fitz hardly knew what to do with the feelings swirling through him. There was both relief that she hadn’t been having wild monkey sex with every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and also a sort of murderous rage directed at Ward that he’d made her feel like this.

“Wait,” he said as Jemma edged closer to him. He could smell the shampoo she used now. Something citrus. “What do I have to do with any of this.”

“You can help me,” she said. “Just…when he comes over, pretend to be my boyfriend. I know we don’t get along, but please, Fitz.”

“Uh, sure.” He scooted over. “Want to play?”

Jemma grinned. “You don’t mind? It’s not my first time.”

“Go for it.”

Her fingers wrapped around the joystick in a way that Fitz attempted to not imagine happening in a different context. she hovering her other hand over the ‘fire’ button. Fitz fed a coin into the machine and the game started.

Jemma blazed through the early screens with no problem, her ease with the game impressive. Fitz checked on where Ward had gotten to, and found the bastard sitting in a booth and staring at Jemma. Fitz leaned closer to Jemma and but his hand on her lower back. Jemma started and had to scramble with the joystick to keep from running into any projectiles on screen.

He could tell when she started to hit levels she found tougher, and he groaned in sympathy when she finally got the Game Over screen. Jemma entered her initials for the third-place spot. She tapped the top spot. “Is this you?”

“Yup.”

She tilted her head. “I think I could beat that with a little practice.”

“I think you could too, but I wouldn’t make holding on to that top spot easy.”

Jemma grinned. “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“Hey Jemma,” Ward said, sauntering over to them. “What are you doing with this loser?”

“We’re going out,” Jemma said. “This is a date.”

“You and Fitz,” Ward said with a laugh. “Sure. And monkeys might fly out of my butt.”

Fitz felt sorry for any monkeys that had anything to do with Ward’s butt. He also started planning ways to embarrass Ward in front of their entire class.

His hands balled into fists at his sides as he drummed up the courage to tell off Ward. “Jemma’s out with me, she doesn’t need you bothering her.”

“Nah, she’s using you, twerp, while she’s playing hard to get with me.”

Fitz found he didn’t care if it was true or not, nobody deserved to be talked about like that. “You must like being wrong,” he said to Ward. “You’re so good at it.” Shifting, Fitz moved the hand on Jemma’s back down to grab her bum and pull her close while bringing their lips together.

It was just their mouths, barely pressing together, but it made his blood surge with heat. Jemma cupped his cheek with a hand and then they were really kissing, tongues sliding over each other as he fell headlong into a joy he hadn’t known existed.

Kissing Jemma was like discovering heaven. He’d found peace and somewhere he belonged.

It was too much, he broke the kiss, looking down at Jemma, who had her eyes closed. With an impatient noise, she pulled his mouth back to hers, nibbling at his lower lip before claiming his mouth again. It felt right, and Fitz really wished they weren’t in a loud, smelly pizza parlor.

“I got it,” Ward said. “You can quit playing tonsil hockey now.” Jemma ended the kiss, but she didn’t step back, instead staying inside his arms. Oh, he was hugging her, and she fit very easily against him, as if he’d been meant to be a place for her to rest against. Ward was miming sticking his finger down his throat to make himself gag.

“Want to study together for the chem test Friday?” Jemma asked into Fitz’s ear, biting the lobe as she did so.

He wondered if she meant just studying, but even if she did, he knew it’d be fun. “Sure, you can kick my arse at Galaga later.”

Arm over her shoulders, he walked Jemma past a stunned Hunter---there would be so many questions tomorrow in homeroom—and out into the bright afternoon sun. She led him down the street, turning so they were walking down a tree-lined avenue. When he moved his arm from her, she caught his hand and kept ahold of it.

“I’m sorry you thought I hated you,” she said, stopping beside a willow. Ducking under a branch with long fronds, she pulled him after her. They ended up in a shaded spot, Jemma’s back against the trunk of the tree.

“I thought it might be because…well, because I don’t have much money.”

Jemma winced. “I can see how you’d believe that, but Fitz…you’ve always been the most interesting person at school. I’ve always wanted to talk to you. I’m not stuck up about class. I’ve also always wanted to do this.” She sank her fingers into his hair, raking the tips through his mess of curls.

Jemma groaned and kissed him, her body arching into his.

Fitz pressed back, kissing her deeply as if her lips were keeping him from drowning.

She twisted her fingers into his shirt to pull him close.

“Fitz,” she said against his lips. “I’m going to beat you at Galaga.” He could feel her smile.

“You are my nemesis,” he agreed. “But I bet I get one point higher on the chem test.”

Jemma gasped, and he kissed the corner of her lips before moving to mouth the corner of her jaw. “You are not, and we should go study.”

Fitz kissed her lips again when she started to wiggle out, apparently worried about her grade. Jemma tensed, then relaxed. One of her hands grabbed his arse and he moaned.

“I wonder what else we could make a competition?” she asked, voice husky. 

Fitz trailed a finger down her neck. “I think you’ll always win.”

He knew he’d never be happier than when he lost to her.


End file.
